For Blue Jays fans old enough to remember watching him swing for the fences at Exhibition Stadium, George Bell is already immortal — whether for his remarkable MVP season in 1987 or the joyful memory of watching him drop to his knees in elation after making the division-clinching catch in 1985.

“The experience I had with the Toronto Blue Jays was the best time I had in my life,” Bell said via conference call on Thursday. “I grew up as a player in Toronto.”

Toronto-born outfielder Rob Ducey — one of the only players to play for the Expos, Jays and the Canadian Olympic team — and the late Nat Bailey, a patron of baseball in Vancouver, will also be inducted this year.

Bell spent nine years with the Jays, from 1981 through 1990, collecting 202 home runs, fourth-most in club history. He cranked 47 homers in ’87 — then a franchise record — to earn the AL MVP. The three-time all-star, who works as an occasional hitting instructor in the Jays’ minor-league system, has a career .278 average with 265 home runs and 1,002 RBIs.

For Raines — who came up short in his sixth year of eligibility for baseball’s hall of fame in Cooperstown — getting the nod from up north is sweet consolation.

“The emotions of not getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame is something that I’ve been dealing with for five years,” said the Florida native, who sits fifth on the all-time major league stolen base list. “But getting into the Canadian hall of fame is about jubilation. It’s the highest honour I’ve got since I played professional baseball.”

Raines, who was recently named to the Jays’ minor-league coaching staff as a roving baserunning and outfield instructor, was one of the premier leadoff hitters of the 1980s. Only Rickey Henderson swiped more bags that decade. Raines holds Expos records for steals, singles, triples and walks, and owns a career .294 average.

His share of the vote for induction in Cooperstown, N.Y., has been growing incrementally and many believe his time will come. This year he was included on 52.2 per cent of ballots, 130 votes short of the 75 per cent threshold needed to get in.

“I keep hoping that one day it’ll finally happen,” said Raines, whose wife is from Ottawa (“Our kids are half-Canadian”). “But if not, I’m a Canadian hall of famer now and I feel pretty good about that.”

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